Gaara and Kitta of Suna
by a Wiccan
Summary: *REWRITEN* She promised she would his friend forever, even if he pushed her away, she never forgot the promise even though she had made it when they were five. Now she is older and struggling in what seems a never ending battle. Between her duties at the hospital and her new work as a genin, she struggles to find a balence, all while holding on to her promise.
1. the begining of the begining

Kitta had just moved to Suna with her family and it was her first day at the academy. She stood in front of the class next to the teacher shyly. Everybody in the rrom was staring at her.

"Class today we have a new student. I want you all to treat her kindly. Why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you."

"Hai. My n-name is Kitta Haritaga. I-I am f-five years old and I w-want to become a medical nin." She told them. Then the teacher told her to go sit some place but the girl she sat with didn't want to talk to her and went out of her way to ignore her.

Before long it was the end of the day and Kitta was on the playground swinging all alone. That's when she saw a little red head sitting by himself, carrying a teddy bear and looking sad. She jumped off the swing and ran over to him.

"Hey, are you alone too?" The boy looked up at her in surprise. No one had ever come up to him to talk to him. He did not answer but the girl continued on.

"Do you want to be my friend?" The boy was even more surprised and at a loss of words. He nodded at her and she flashed a smile.

"My name's Kitta. What yours?" She asked curiously.

"Sabaku no Gaara." He told her somewhat hesitantly. He feared that if she knew who he was, she would no longer talk to him.

"Well Gaara, do you want to play ball?" Gaara took in her genuine smile and began to smile back. The two kids began playing.

* * *

They had been playing for an hour when Kitta began to get tired.

"I'm tired now." Gaara nodded in agreement.

"I know! Let's go to my house and see if mom has any treats." She said excitedly. Kitta grabbed her friends hand and ran to her house. They laughed the entire way.

* * *

"Mommy I'm home," Kitta called, "And I brought a friend."

"Alright, well then it's a good thing I baked some cookies." Came a kind voice from the kitchen.

Kitta's mom smiled at the 5 year olds who entered the kitchen. Without it being noticed she looked at Gaara. So this was the jinchuriki of Suna. Kitta's mom, Sharu, could not help but to pity the poor boy.

Gaara had thick black lines around his eyes, as if he didn't sleep much. He had sea foam green eyes that had sadness and loneliness in them, and now happiness. He had a wary look about him, as if he was expecting someone to attack him. It bother angered and broke her heart. Sharu believed a child should never have reason to be wary.

She watched as her daughter got out two cups and plates. As Kitta got the cookies for her and Gaara, Sharu poured milk into the cups.

* * *

When they finished their snack, Kitta and Gaara when back out to play. They played tag all through the streets playing tag. Somehow they wound up in front of Gaara's house. There they sat down, tired after playing tag when someone called out to Gaara

"Gaara –sama its time to come in." they both looked to see Gaara's uncle there.

"Alright. But can we take my friend home first?" He asked hopefully. Yashamaru looked surprised but replied anyways.

"Why, of course. Now what is your name?"

"M-my name is Kitta. Uh s-sir" She stammered out shyly. Yashamaru smiled at her.

"My name is Yashamaru."

And so Gaara and his uncle took Kitta home. It was there that Gaara's uncle was introduced to Kitta's mother. After introductions where made, Gaara and his uncle went home. Gaara and Kitta were calling good byes to each other and promising to play the next day with their guardians' permission.


	2. The end of the begining

Gaara and Kitta grew closer to each other everyday. Pretty soon it was impossible to find one of the two without the other. They spent when ever they could together for almost a year. They were each others only friend. But one person did try to keep them apart.

The Kazekage tried to keep Kitta and Gaara separate, but some how they always managed to get passed that. Kitta learned how to pick locks. She was a curious girl and since she was not stong enough to break down doors yet, she would pick the locks. The skill came in handy when she wanted to see Gaara but the doors were locked. And in turn, Kitta taught Gaara, who wanted to learn because it looked cool. The Kazekage never knew that they had that skill. And Kitta wanted to jeep it that way. She did not like the Kazekage.

He thought that Gaara was a tool and a weapon to be used; if he had friends then it would all be ruined. Kitta hated that and had on more than one occasion tried to yell at him for it. The Kazekage learned to ignore the bothersome six-year old, even when she would randomly appear in his locked house to get Gaara. It became a normal sight.

Likewise, Gaara was over at Kitta's house so much that it was practically a second home to him, and he liked it a lot better. Kitta and her mother could not blame him and both enjoyed having him at the house often.

Gaara had no mother and his father had never acted like a father toward the boy. In fact he would constantly remind the boy that Gaara was a monster. Something that irked Kitta to no end. Sharu often voiced her disapproval about it as well. Neither could find Gaara to be a monster. He was too sweet.

Gaara's siblings were never around. Kitta could not ever remember seeing them in all the times she had been at Gaara's house. Gaara said he did not interact with them very often. His father did not like it. And so his uncle was the only one who ever offered kindness to Gaara at his house.

But over at Kitta's house he had Kitta who was his best friend and like a good sister. Sharu was like a mom to him to and Kitta's grandma was like a grandma to him too As for Kitta's father, he did not ever see him. Kitta once told him that he was a very stong and busy man but he could be scary sometimes.

In all of the times that Gaara visited Kitta, his uncle was the only one who knew where the girl lived. Sharu once thought about why that was so, but she never voiced her question. She feared the answer she would receive.

* * *

One night Kitta was lying in bed unable to sleep. Things were quiet until the young girl heard a tapping noise coming from her window. She sat up and dashed out of her bed. Gaara was perched on her windowsill.

Kitta quickly opened the window and Gaara climbed in.

"Gaara what are you doing here." The redhead did not answer and that was when Kitta noticed the tears in his eyes.

"Father stared yelling at me. He said I was a worthless monster." Kitta frowned and hugged her friend as he started crying. She really hated the Kazekage now.

"You are not worthless and you are not a monster. " Kitta told him sternly. He wiped his eyes and looked at his friend. There was a fierceness in her eyes that only came out when she was protecting Gaara. He nodded and she brought him to her bed.

"You can sleep here tonight with me." Gaara looked worried.

"I can't sleep. If I do then He will take over me." Kitta considered his words for a few moments.

"I'll protect you and make sure that doesn't happen." She told him with an air of absolute determination that had Gaara completely believing in her. They climbed into the bed and laid down, Kitta on one side and Gaara on the other. Kitta took Gaara's hand to reassure him as they slept on.

Later on Sharu came in to check on her daughter and was momentarily surprised but then she smiled. She knew that the boy did not sleep much, but maybe now he would. Pretty soon it all became routine.

What would happen was Gaara and Kitta would spend the afternoon after the academy playing together. Then Gaara's uncle would come and get him for dinner. Once everyone had gone to bed, Gaara would sneak out and go over to Kitta's house.

There the two friends would talk till they fell asleep or Kitta's mother would come in and tell them to go to sleep. The two of them were inseparable. And Kitta grew even more protective of her friend.

* * *

One day when Gaara and Kitta playing together, a group of kids came over and started picking on Gaara.

" Nobody loves you" "Why don't you go away and stay away" "Go away forever monster" "You should just die, nobody likes you." "MONSTER."

Kitta grew angry very quickly and jumped in front of Gaara to protect him. She started yelling back at the kids.

"Go away you big jerks. He is not a monster. If any one is a monster it's you people!" she yelled at them. The kids were momentarily stunned and she turned around and grabbed Gaara's hand and brought him back to her house.

* * *

A few hours later, Gaara's uncle and Kitta's mom were talking and sipping tea, while watching the two five almost six year olds playing.

"They are going to be upset when they realize that the world isn't all fun and games" Gaara's uncle said out of the blue. Sharu nodded but replied,

"That may be, but let them enjoy it while they are kids."

A few days later the world caught up to them. That night Gaara never came over and Kitta was worried. So at 10:00 pm, an hour past the time Gaara usually showed up at, she snuck out to go find Gaara. That was when she heard a voice. It was Gaara's. Kitta quickly ran to the direction it came from.

When she got there she stopped at what she saw, fear rising in her. She had reason to worry. There was a man lying down all bloody and Gaara was near it crying and asking why over and over. Seeing her friend upset, she went over to comfort him. She gasped when she got close. It was Gaara's uncle. Her eyes widened at what he was saying. Her thoughts were _the jerk he doesn't care about Gaara. He is just like those stupid bullies._

She asked Gaara if he was alright but never got to finish.

"Gaara? Are you-" BOOM!

Kitta screamed at the explosion, expecting to be blown up too. When she realized she was ok, Kitta looked around. Gaara's sand had protected both him and her.

"Gaara are-"

"Go away! You are probably just like him. You don't really care. You are just pretending so that way you can try to kill me! He tried to kill me on my father's orders. He wanted to kill me. They both did." He yelled at her.

Kitta was shocked "But-"

"GO AWAY!" He screamed at her.

She ran. But just as she got to the edge of the building she stopped and looked back.

"Gaara, I promised I would be your friend always. Maybe someday you will realize it is the truth. Just don't forget that I promised to be your friend forever. I will always be there if you need me." And with that she left.

Gaara heard her but decided that she was lying and didn't look at her. If he had he would have seen the tears running down her face. Nor did he realize that she watched the sand tattoo the enigma for love on his forehead. She cried and ran home.

Back home Kitta ran to her mom sobbing the whole time. She told her mom what had happened. Just before she fell asleep she made a promise "I promise Gaara, I'll be… your friend… forever…." And she fell asleep.

Sharu was both sad and angry. Sad that someone took away the happiness that the two had and angry at the fact that the Kazekage took away the childhood of them both. She would help her daughter achieve her promise, she swore on her life.

From that day forward Kitta worked hard. She made other friends but never friends that were as good as Gaara had been. Whenever someone talked foul of Gaara they would be on the receiving end of Kitta's temper.

Kitta was a kind girl who didn't get in much arguments or fights. But when it came to Gaara she would get mad at anyone who talked bad about him in her hearing. She and Gaara did not talk and he ignored her and everyone else completely since that night. At first she was hurt but she gradually began to accept it. But she never forgot the promise she made.


	3. Genin

Kitta huffed angrily as she sat at a desk. She had been dragged back to the academy just to hear the Kazekage talk on and on. How fun. She was twelve and a genin now. She was also a medical nin and had been training for years. Kitta had left the academy a few years earlier to train at the hospital. She had not been in the academy since she was seven.

In the time since she was a child, Kitta had changed. She wore black pants that where tight in the waist but loose around the legs. She wore a cropped black tank top and over that was a one shouldered sea blue t-shirt. Her shoes were the standard black sandals that most shinobi wore in Suna. When she was on duty at the hospital, she had a white medical jacket she wore over her clothing.

Today her sensei had told her she had to attend this. Kitta would rather be working at the hospital than listening to some guy she hated talk about loyalty. It made the girl's blood boil just looking at him. She had no loyalty towards him or the council. Not after what they did to Gaara.

The longer Kitta listened to the Kazekage the angrier she felt herself become. He was preaching about loyalty to each other, Suna, and above all, him. She could not stand it any more. Abruptly the girl stood up and began walking toward the door.

"Kitta! What are you doing?!" the teacher exclaimed. "Get back here and listen to the Kazekage!"

Kitta leveled a glance at him before continuing to walk toward the door."No."

"Excuse me!" The teacher's face was turning red. Kitta opened the door and glared at him. "You heard me. No."

"Sit down and be respectful to the Kazekage!"

"I'm not going to listen to this." she replied calmly. This seemed to anger the teacher even more.

"Kitta you still need to take your pledge" the Kazekage told her.

"Does this pledge have something to do with being more loyal to you than our friends?" she asked with mock innocence. She already knew the answer to it.

The Kazekage seemed to hesitate a little bit. He knew exactly where this was going."Yes"

"Then I won't take it" she said a little bit of venom leaking back into her voice. Over the years her temper had gotten worse.

"Why not?!" the teacher asked, yelling.

"I refuse to break my promise." The girl walked out the door.

Durring the exchange, all eyes had been on her. A few were laughing at the teacher losing the argument. Some were in awe of Kitta's lack of fear. Some were down right appalled by her lack of respect and a few were angry at her behavior. But one seemingly held nothing. However if you were to look close enough at his teal eyes, one would see the faint sliver of curiosity and mild surprise.

All these years and she still held her displeasure toward the Kazekage. And she still had her blatant disrespect toward the Kazekage. A faded memory flowed through Gaara's head of a little girl making a promise but he quickly shoved it away. Things like that did not matter.

The Kazekage sighed and shook his head. Only she would act like that and get away with it. If the Kazekage had not known her since she was a child he would have been surprised. As it was though, he had expected her behavior. The Kazekage turned back to the class and continued talking, secretly watching the redhead who sat alone. The redhead that was unknowingly watching the girl leave. It was during times like this that the most emotion that ever came to the boy's face.

* * *

When the Kazekage left the academy he went to a council meeting. The members were irate. Kitta's lack of respect toward them and the Kazekage was a constant source of annoyance. She did as she was told yeah, but she did not do it out of fear or respect.

"What are we going to do?" one of the members asked. He was at a loss about what to do with the girl.

"Who knows, the girl does not fear or respect us. She barely tolerates us and shows open dislike towards the Kazekage."

"That girl has no loyalty toward any one and lets her temper get away all the time." Another snorted.

"No, she has loyalty to Suna and one other person." Everyone looked at the Kazekage in surprise.

"And who would that be, Kazekage-sama?"

The Kazekage closed his eyes before replying. "Gaara."

The council members all twittered around, shuffling their things to hide their shock. One of them finally spoke up.

"That girl is loyal to a monster? The very monster who shows no remorse or hesitation in destroying any one who crosses his path?" The Kazekage nodded, looking deep in thought.

"Gaara could kill her if he had the chance to. Why only to him?"

"Who knows?" The Kazekage began thinking of something from a long time ago.

* * *

When Kitta had left the academy she went to go to someplace to think. Her mother knew exactly where to find her. She went to the cliffs that over looked the village. There was her daughter sitting on the edge of the cliff and leaning against a rock.

"Kitta" She called out.

Kitta looked around to see her mother coming with a mild expression of amusement. She had already heard about the academy incident.

"Hey mom. Am I in trouble?"

Sharu laughed lightly "No. Although it was rude, I don't blame you."

Kitta smiled, when it came to the Kazekage and Gaara, hers and her mother's opinions were the same. Though Sharu was less hostile in attitude. Sharu continued to talk.

" I came to tell you that your sensei, Toku, wants to see you at the hospital."

"I wonder what she wants" Kitta replied with a sigh.

Sharu smiled as she watched her daughter stand up and head toward the hospital. In a couple of days Sharu was leaving on a trip for a week or two. She hoped her daughter would be okay until she got back.

* * *

At the hospital Kitta went to talk to her sensei. Toku had shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes. She wore the white hospital uniform dress. But underneath that she wore a tan dress.

"You wanted to talk to me, Toku-sensei?" Kitta asked. Toku had been working on some papers when she entered. Toku looked up.

"Ah yes. There is something I have to talk to you about."

"Is it about what happened today?" Kitta asked. Her sensei had scolded her a few times about being openly rude to the Kazekage, but for the most part Toku sided with Kitta and her views about Gaara.

Toku chuckled. "No. it's about your training. You have the greatest promise out of all the others to become a great medical nin. However, you have no field training or experience unlike the others."

"Okay, so what am I going to do about it?" Kitta asked, not understanding where her sensei was going with this.

"You have been assigned to a genin team. Even though it already has all of the people needed we think that it would be just fine."

Kitta paled. Now she understood.

"But I don't know how to fight." she said worriedly.

"Don't worry. You'll learn."

* * *

The next day Kitta went to the training grounds where she was supposed to meet the others. She stopped when she got there and stood still for a couple of seconds. She was placed on a team with Gaara and his siblings with Baki as their sensei. She continued on after a moment of hesitation.

It was Baki who noticed her first. "Ah, you must me the new addition"

"Hai, I am." She said, some what nervously. Baki nodded. Toku had told him about the girl already and what she was able to do.

"Okay then, I want you all to introduce yourselves, even though you three know each other." Kankuro sighed a little but Temari elbowed him in the gut before starting.

"Right, I'm the eldest and I'm 14. My name is Temari and I'm a wind mistress." Temari told the younger girl with a warm smile.

"I'm Kankuro, I'm 13 and a puppeteer." The boy mumbled out.

Everyone looked at Gaara to see if he would talk, no one expected him to so it surprised them when he said "Sabaku no Gaara, 12, sand justu." Kitta smiled. Gaara looked surprise d at himself. The redhead had not expected to open his mouth and say something.

"I'm Kitta, I'm 12 years old, I'm a medical nin in training." Baki nodded and then introduced himself to Kitta.

"Now Toku told me they never taught you how to fight." Temari and Kankuro looked at her in shock. Kitta gave a sheepish nod.

"Go with Temari and she will help you get started in catching up." The two girls went off and began.

* * *

Around noon they stopped for a lunch break. Temari and Kitta were walking and talking together. Already the two had become good friends.

"So they never taught you how to fight?" Temari was still a little surprised that they sent someone who did not know how to fight to be part of a genin team.

"No, they didn't think it was important." Kitta sighed.

"Wow. Well I'll help you train, you will learn in no time." Temari smiled at her reassuringly.

"Thanks Temari." Kitta returned the smile.

"No problem."

The two went their separate ways for lunch.

* * *

"Kitta!" The girl turned around when she heard her name being called. Miu, Kitta's friend from the hospital was running towards her. Kitta smiled and called out a greeting.

"Hey Miu, what's the rush?" Miu fell into step beside Kitta.

"I came to tell you your dad was home." Kitta paled a little bit but quickly hid her expression. The two girls continued to talk as they walked. Neither of them realized they were being watched.


	4. A cut

He didn't know why, but he followed her. He stayed hidden while following her silently. Gaara watched and listened silently as the two girls talked now. For some reason they talked about Kitta's father and he was curious on why she looked so scared.

Wait scared? Kitta was never scared Gaara had thought. This was interesting, though he was unsure as to why. Gaara listened more when he heard his name.

"Oh, and I'm sorry."

"For what?" Kitta was confused.

"For your team. You got put on to the same team as Gaara. He's a monster, everybody knows that."

"No, he isn't." Kitta snapped. Her good mood was now gone. People trash talking Gaara was one of the few things that irked her.

"Look Kitta, I know you used to talk to him and stuff, but he's not safe to be around. He could kill you without a second thought." Miu said, as if talking to a small child.

"For your information I used to be best friends with him. And he's only like this because of the Kazekage and this stupid village!" She snarled. Miu stepped back. Kitta was one to almost never get mad, but when she did; your best bet was to back away. Miu had seen Kitta leave a trail of bruised interns in the hospital before.

"Okay, what ever. Just be careful" Miu said to appease her friend and left while Kitta continued on her way home. Gaara sat there and processed what he just heard.

_She still defends me? How strange, all well. _The thought left his mind before he could dwell on it.

* * *

When Kitta walked into her house she didn't see or sense anyone. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed something to make for lunch. As she ate she kept an ear open, listening for her father. If he snuck up on her he would probably beat her again. That was something she had to avoid as much as possible.

As she left the house she got hit in the back by something hard. She staggered a little and then turned quickly to see the wood that had hit her. Yea, that would leave a bruise on her back. She looked at her father in terror and swiftly ran out the door as he threw a glass bottle at her. She managed to just dodge it, but then it hit the wall and shattered, causing a few of the pieces to hit her arm and caused it to bleed. She would worry about that later.

Kitta swore up a storm as she raced away to the hospital. She could squeeze in thirty minutes if she was lucky before she had to head back to training. She would be hard pressed for time though. Briefly the idea of asking for fewer hours crossed her mind but the girl shoved it away. The superiors would just try to press even more work on her.

* * *

"Kitta, you're late!" Baki barked. Kitta had just arrived and everybody was already assembled.

"Sorry, I had to put time in at the hospital." She panted out. Temari looked at her new friend in concern. Kankuro snorted but Baki sighed. When Kitta had been assigned to the team, Baki had been told by Toku that the higher ups would be making Kitta work in the hospital along with her genin work.

"Toku told me about you still being required to pull shifts at the hospital. I'll talk to them about it." Kitta looked at the man in surprise. Maybe he was not as bad as she had thought.

"T-thank you." She stammered out. Baki nodded and then had Temari spar with Kankuro as Kitta worked on her target practice. Gaara did his own thing off to the side.

Gaara was watching Kitta silently. That's when he noticed it. There was a cut on her arm. Kitta had been harmed in the time between after her friend left and before meeting. The redhead's eyes narrowed as he stared at the cut.

Meanwhile Kitta was trying to focus on her accuracy. The people at the hospital had neglected to train her in anything that had nothing to do with her medical training, and that unfortunately meant ninjutsu, taijutsu and using weapons. Her steady hands were a help though in her aim as well as the practice she had at throwing items during her moments of anger with people.

"You're bleeding." Gaara did not even realize he had opened his mouth until he heard the words he spoke. Kitta looked at him in confusion momentarily. Then she felt the small trickle of blood on her arm and looked at it. She had completely forgotten about the cut from earlier. All the movement must have opened it again.

"Oh, I must have got it earlier without noticing." Kitta told the redhead as she brought her hand up to the small cut. Her hand briefly glowed green before she removed it. The cut was no where to be seen. Gaara continued to watch her as she continued to practice.

* * *

"So you have to go back to the hospital now?" Temari was talking with Kitta. They had finished training for the day and were now walking together. Kitta had to go back to back for a shift at the hospital so Temari was accompanying her.

"Yeah, I have to get in a shift everyday so I don't fall behind in my training."

"Are you going to be able to do that now though since they are making you work on a genin team?"

"I have to. One day I want to be at the top of the hospital, but if I fall behind in my training then I won't be able to do that. Besides, this is good training for missions."

Temari could not find fault with her younger friend's logic and when they reached the hospital they said their good byes.

"See you tomorrow." Temari walked back to her home, worrying about her new friend. She hoped Baki would talk to the higher ups in the hospital soon. Kitta was not used to the genin work yet and continuing to work at the hospital would wear her out too fast.


End file.
